Quick Look: 1991 Stadium Club Jamie Quirk Variations

Here is a glimpse at all three versions of Quirk’s 1991 Stadium Club card. Interestingly, Quirk was featuring on series two packaging and promotional materials, though, I doubt many would argue that Stadium Club could’ve picked a number of better photos that this somewhat dull image.

Quirk was original printed with a 1990 Topps notation for his rookie card on back. This was changed to his correct, 1976 version. However, there exists two variants: one, printed clearly and correctly and another, printed with a 90-degree rotated “ghost” image over his corner of his rookie card image on back. This is not the result of a wet-transfer or errant ink strike, it is beneath the gloss layer and always printed in the exact same way. In fact, this version appears to be slightly more prevalent than his clean, 1976 version.

Cards you’ve never seen: 1991 Fleer Elite Baseball

In 1991, just after the enormous success of 1990 Leaf Baseball as Donruss’ entry into the ‘premium’ card market, the other companies were looking to launch a high-end line of cards. Fleer put together a set that was to be called ‘Elite‘ but because Donruss already had a major insert set by the same name, Fleer was forced to change the name to ‘Ultra‘ just before release.

The above images are from a 1991 SCD Basketball, Football, Hockey Collector magazine ad. This is the best image that’s out there for these samples, as far as I know. Notice how the card logos are blacked-out, recalling Fleer’s Bill Ripken bat-handle editing technique. I have no idea whether this is the doing of the dealers who were running the ads, possibly at Fleer’s behest, or if Fleer sent them samples or mock-ups with the blacked-out logos.

Makes you wonder if any physical samples are out there. Either blacked-out or with the Elite logos. I know I’d love to add a Robin Ventura to my collection!